City bought proposed arena lands despite warnings about cleanup costs

Calgary’s city council secretly approved the $36.9-million purchase of contaminated land — now being pitched as part of the site for a new downtown arena and stadium complex — despite expert reports that warned the extent of the pollution and potential cleanup costs needed further investigation.

Remediation guesstimates for the soil contaminated at the GSL site range from $200 to $300 million, compared to $36.9 million to buy the site.

There’s nothing polite to say about this purchase. I think it was bought with the idea that in the near future it could be used as a contribution for the proposed new Flames arena. That way, Council could say that no public funds were being used for a private sports organization.

Also, the word “secretly” is bothersome. Public business (buying the land) should be done in public!